Who is willing to go to jail for Occupy Toronto?
That was the question activists were told to ask themselves Tuesday night, as they prepared for a potential police raid on the park where they’ve been camped out for the past month in protest against economic inequality.
The occupation won a temporary court injunction against eviction from St. James Park Tuesday evening, hours after the city gave official notice to protesters to vacate immediately. A judge will rule on the eviction by Saturday afternoon at the latest, but protesters are already making contingency plans should the injunction be lifted.
Speaking at the occupation’s general assembly, marshals explained that a system has been formalized to have protesters identify whether they’re willing to be arrested in an attempt to protect the camp.
“We have devised a strategy in the eventuality of a raid,” a marshal named Masawe told the assembly. “We have designated three tiers of occupiers. Red, orange, green.”
Green protesters are those who don’t want to be arrested under any circumstances, Masawe explained. Orange protesters are an intermediate group, while red protesters are front line occupiers who are willing to go to jail. If the police move in to clear the park, green protesters will leave, while orange and red groups will meet at pre-determined points in St. James Park.
Orange protesters will be directed towards property owned by nearby St. James Cathedral, where they believe they have legal protection from arrest.
“If you are red, there are spots we have designated for you to defend non-violently,” Masawe said. Two of the camps large yurts, and an area called the “sacred fire,” were identified as the most important sites to protect.
It’s not clear how many occupiers are in each group, but some are already declaring they will go to jail rather than leave the park.
“If they have to arrest me, I will be here to be arrested,” said Matt Webb, who spends three nights a week at the park in between working a job at an advertising agency. “The people I work with are pretty cool. A lot of them know what I’m doing down here. If I were to get arrested it would be an interruption to my life, but I wouldn’t lose my job.”
Brooks Ash, one of the organizers who will help organize people into colour groups should the police enter the park, also said he was willing to go to jail for the occupation.
“I’m sticking around,” he pledged, asserting that even if the authorities clear the park it won’t spell the end of the Occupy Toronto movement. “Regardless of what they do, they’ll make the movement stronger. We’ll go somewhere else.”
Signs that occupiers are bracing for a police showdown are evident throughout St. James. The telephone number for the occupation’s legal defense line has been posted everywhere and protesters are being encouraged to write it on their bodies with permanent marker in case their possessions are confiscated.
Some campers are moving their tents closer towards the church’s property, while some have packed up altogether and left the park.
The injunction won by Occupy Toronto Tuesday came as a surprise to many, and although it had been discussed beforehand by a core group of protesters the plan wasn’t general knowledge in the camp until after the fact.
In their application for an injunction, Occupy Toronto argued that removing their camp would represent a breach of their Charter rights, including the right to peacefully assembly and freedom of expression.
After the eviction notices were given out Tuesday morning, a large rally was called for 11 pm that night with local unions and anti-poverty groups vowing to turn out in force. The rally was scuttled after the injunction was won, although the United Steelworkers Union and the Ontario Federation of Labour did show up for the evening’s general assembly.
The encampment’s numbers swelled throughout the evening as the movement’s supporters flocked to the site to celebrate the stay of eviction by dancing and drumming in the park gazebo.
While the mood of the camp was generally upbeat, other protesters were concerned that the noise from the park would anger local residents and the increased number of people in the campsite could violate the terms of the injunction. Judge D.M. Brown ordered that until she has ruled on Occupy Toronto’s application, the status quo in the park must be maintained, meaning protesters are “restrained from installing, erecting or maintaining any tent, shelter or other structure which was not in place as of 10:00 a.m. (Tuesday) morning.”
While there were several times more people in the park than normal, none of them appeared to be erecting new tents.
Judge Brown will begin hearing full arguments in the case on Friday morning at 10 am, and make a ruling no later than 6 pm on Saturday. That same day, protesters are planning a large rally at 2 pm at city hall to “Evict Rob Ford.”
